On January 7, 1981, Lonene Rogers, who her friends called “Lonnie,” and her husband, Bud, got into a fight. The fight was just one of many that they had, and Lonnie had already decided to leave Bud. But Lonnie would disappear without a trace in the morning, leaving her son and daughter behind.

Up until the time she went missing in Erie, Pennsylvania, 40 years ago, she had a hard life. Now, her family in Brunswick is trying hard to find out what’s going on.

Jan. 6, 1981. The story goes that a deaf mother of two left her husband and children in the middle of the night. It was snowing at the time. Alison Duiker knew a lot about her mother, Lonene Rogers, but this decision goes against everything she knew about her.

Alison Duiker said, “She was kind, loving, and always willing to help other people.

At the time she went missing, Lonene, who was known as “Lonnie,” was only 28 years old. The woman who was deaf also forgot her hearing aids and wallet.

Her husband says they fought, and he went to bed after that. When he awoke, Lonnie was gone.

“From the beginning, it was a very troubled marriage,” Duiker told 3News. “I think a lot of their fights were about money.”

Alison’s father gave her up for adoption, and no one ever heard from Lonnie again.

“I didn’t want to look at the case because my guidance counsellor had taken me in,” she said. “I wanted to act like I was living a normal life, like I was a normal kid with nothing strange in my past.”

All of that changed this year, though, when Alison, who lives in Brunswick, started looking into what happened to her mother. She went east to Erie to talk to the police, where she found out that her estranged father had been arrested many times, mostly for small crimes like breaking and entering. She also set up a meeting with the police in Pennsylvania.

Duiker said, “This is a 40-year-old cold case, and what I found was shocking.” “A lot of balls were dropped, and clues were not followed up on.”

She says that one of these leads was an interview with her father that never happened because police couldn’t find an interpreter. Her mother is deaf, and so is her father.

Duiker also hired a private investigator, and she says she won’t give up. “Why now?” we asked. “Why not?” she replied.

“The more people pay attention to this case, the more pressure is put on the police and the people who might know something,” she said.

Duiker also thinks that the deaf community, which she says is very close, may have some answers. When 3News Investigates contacted the Pennsylvania State Police, a spokesman for the agency said the following:

“Due to this case being an active investigation any suspect information cannot be disclosed. Any verifiable information in any active criminal investigation is thoroughly followed up by investigators.”